Lamborghini has bid farewell to its incredible naturally-aspirated V12 engine, fitting the final two powerplants into a pair of one-off cars that pay testament to one of the great supercar motors.
The Invencible [no, that’s not a typo] coupe and Auténtica roadster are unique special editions modelled on the outgoing Aventador and will be the last 12-cylinder Lambos without any form of hybridisation, with the Italian marque set to embark on electrifying its model line-up in the coming years.
Being the final examples with the combustion-only V12, they won’t be cheap, with reports of price tags in excess of £1million.
The 6.5-litre V12 engines in the two cars have a matching power output of 769bhp and 720Nm of torque.
That’s the same as the Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae, which is the last volume-production Aventador the Lamborghini factory made.
While no performance stats have been confirmed, the one-off coupe and unique roadster are expected to match the Ultimae’s acceleration time of 2.8 seconds to 62mph, with the hard-top also likely to have the same 211mph top speed.
It spells the end of the flagship supercar’s 12-year cycle, with the original Aventador launching in 2011 and sold in various guises and editions over more than a decade.
‘The V12 engine is one of the pillars of our history and our marque’s success,’ said Stephan Winkelmann, Automobili Lamborghini chairman and CEO.
‘As we head towards embracing a new era of hybridisation at the heart of our Cor Tauri strategy, this is the Lamborghini way of celebrating the naturally aspirated V12 with two one-off vehicles that perfectly represent our concept of excellence in personalization.’
The brand says the Invencible – which is finished in a flaked red – or ‘Rosso Efesto’ – paintwork and the black and yellow Auténtica highlight the marque’s DNA and ‘represent the very peak of Lamborghini’s exclusive accent on personalisation’ with customers part of the design process of the bespoke vehicles.
While both are based on the Aventador, they have fully reworked bodies, constructed entirely from carbon fibre.
‘We have created two one-off cars with their own unique character, inspired by track days and the high-octane circuit environment, explained Mitja Borkert, Lamborghini’s head of design.
While both cars have likely already been promised to dedicated customers, the price of each hasn’t been revealed.
The 350-production Aventador Ultimae cost from £342,000, though this pair are likely to be at least three times pricier.
The Aventador will go down as a major success for Lambo, having delivered 5,000 examples within five years of it hitting showrooms – that’s more than the total number of Murciélagos ever produced.
By September, some 10,000 examples had been bought by customers, which is more than five times the total output of Countach (1,983) and almost four times the production run for Diablo (2,884).
Its replacement is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
While we don’t know the name of the next flagship supercar from Lamborghini, it does look set to continue the V12 tradition dating back to 1966 and the unveiling of the Miura, though with the addition of a small onboard battery and electric motors, as part of its promise of hybridisation for the full model line-up by the end of next year.
And prototypes have already been spotted out testing in the wild with quad exhaust outlets and a voltage warning sticker on the wing revealing its hybrid drivetrain.
With Lamborghini previously stating that its first pure-electric model won’t arrive until close to the end of the decade, the V12 powerplant looks set to live on for the next few years, at least.
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